In the event that you didn’t notice the warning on top and you went ahead and renamed the domain controller and you had Dfs services running on it, here are some instructions on how to manually remove Dfs nameserver and fix the issue.

The project was to install MS Advanced Thread Analytic Gateway in a virtual machine, in Vmware, to monitor a physical domain controller.

Hardware involved

Domain controller (physical) – DCServer1

DELL switch – switch1

ESXi host – host1

MS ATA Gateway – atagw1

Setup Port Mirroring at Physical Switch Level

DC server DCserver1 and ESXi host1 are physically connected to switch1. DCserver1 connects on port 40 and host1 connects on port 44 of the switch.

We’re going to configure port mirroring on switch1 as source being port 40 and destination port 44 and we’re going to use use both directions in our config. You can use the following link to configure port mirroring on DELL switches.

Configure Vmware for Port Mirroring

As mentioned before, host1 connects to switch1, and we’re going to use this connection (vmnic2) and create a new standard switch (that was my setup). So, at point, vmnic2 connects to port 44 on switch1.

Once your new standard switch is created (vSwitch2), then we’ll create a new port group (ATA-Capture). While creating port group ATA-Capture, make sure to enable Promiscuous Mode and set VLAN ID to All (4095) – this part crucial!

Configure Microsoft ATA Gateway VM

Your MS ATA Gateway will need to have two NICs. One NIC will be used for day to day work and the second NIC for capture. To make thing easier, rename the NIC to something like ‘Capture‘. Next, make sure that your Capture NIC belongs to the ATA-Capture port group.

There are plenty of blogs about this subject, however, many of these blogs are outdated and some of their tips do not work properly for Windows Server 2012 R2. Also, in my case, I’m not using MSDT to install features and roles, but instead I’m using a captured WIM image.

To install Hyper-V role, just add a “Run Command Line” task, towards the end of the task sequence, Install Operating System task.

Recently I had the need to create a script to find out what was the active network adapter in our server, so after some ideas from the web, I came up with a one line PowerShell script that helped me achieve my goal.

Note: Get-NetAdapter is a PowerShell commandlet that’s present on Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 R2. This command will not work on Windows 7.

Recently I began to get ready for Windows 10, and part of that process was to get our licensing servers up to date. Since I was getting multiple answers on Microsoft TechNet forums, I decided to open a call with Microsoft Support and get a definitive answer – all information below has been confirmed with Microsoft.

First, Windows Server 2008 R2 will be able to provide licenses for your Windows 10 fleet, with a catch. Microsoft will be deploying a Hotfix for Windows Server 2008 R2 in a month or two, maybe a bit longer, so if your organization can wait, then just hold on tight.

Note: Windows Server 2008 is not supported for Windows 10 licensing, this was made clear on my call to Microsoft Support!

After installing the Volume Activation feature, the following must be done to prepare Windows Server 2012 R2 to licensing Windows 10 clients.

Use the following commands, in an elevated CLI, to register and activate the KMS host server key

SLMGR /ipk CCCCC-XXXXX-PPPPP-KKKKK-MMMMM

SLMGR /ato

After allowing all DCs to synchronize, we’re going to run a command to make sure that the new KMS server is ready to authenticate clients
a. nslookup -type=srv _vlmcs._tcp
b. Copy and paste the command in step 5a onto a desktop and results should be as shown in the screenshot below

These steps will allow you to install the proper host server key and allow your Windows 10 clients to get licensed.